Eliza glided into her grandfather's kitchen and headed straight for the bag of little powdered donuts on the counter by the coffeemaker.
"Don't tell your mom about those, huh," Charlie grunted from behind his newspaper. "Or Sue. I'll be getting shit in stereo until New Year's."
She plopped down into the other chair and took a bite.
"I won't tell if you don't," she said, mouth still half-full, and shot him a conspiratorial grin. He rolled his eyes and switched the paper for his sludgy black coffee. "You working today?"
"Going in after dinner for the overnight."
Eliza wrinkled her nose. "Gross."
"Someone's gotta keep this place safe, kid."
"And someone's gotta remind the Police Chief that he's the big boss in town, and he can set the schedule." She grinned, but it fell when Charlie didn't grin back.
"I know you're just kidding around, but that's not how it works around here." He took another sip of coffee, his expression growing more serious. "I don't have many years left in me for this job, but I'm going to pull my own weight as long as I can. Plus, Johnson's wife's about to pop any day, and I figured I'd let him enjoy his last few nights of sleep."
He retrieved his paper, and she watched him scan it for something to read. Eliza's smile returned, softer this time.
"You're a good egg, Grandpa," she said, and popped the rest of the donut in her mouth. He grunted again.
"'Nuff of that, now."
Charlie shook his newspaper and furrowed his brow, but Eliza noticed the extra pink in his cheeks and a misty film in his eyes. She decided to give him a break and stood back up. There were a couple of dirty dishes on the counter, so she went over and started to clean them.
"Hey, don't worry about those. I got 'em," she heard Charlie say from behind her. She kept washing up.
"There's only a couple left. You want to do anything before you work later? I know you probably want a nap, too."
"I gotta pick up some wiper fluid and get to the Food Mart, if you wanna keep an old man company."
"Yeah, for sure!"
"You need anything for that car? Oil's been changed and everything?" he asked. Eliza had picked up Old Faithful – the new-to-her '99 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight – the day after she arrived in town from Paul Lahote, her friend Brianne's dad. It had been his wife's car until she upgraded, and he'd maintained it perfectly. Precious cargo, he'd given as the reason for how immaculate the thing was despite being from the last century.
"Mr. Lahote said she's good for another twenty-five hundred miles or so," she answered. "But maybe I can grab an air freshener and something fun, like a fuzzy steering wheel cover."
Charlie scoffed, and Eliza was ready to defend her tastes until he spoke.
"Mister Lahote? God, I'm gettin' old," he chuckled. "I remember when that kid was scrawny and buck-toothed and stealing–" Charlie caught himself. "Doing things he shouldn't have."
Eliza smirked and tucked the leaked info away for the next time she and Bri wanted to do something her overprotective dad wouldn't approve of.
A few weeks later, after sending her mom a good night text, Eliza pulled the covers up to her chin and stared at the same ceiling Bella had when she was her age. She'd been in Forks for a while now, but she still wasn't used to the quiet; every little sound stood out against the silence instead of getting lost in the buzzing background noise that lulled her to sleep back home. The wind was picking up outside and causing small creaks and groans that morphed into shadows and figures in her mind, scaling the walls, skittering across the ceiling, and slipping into the closet and under the bed.
Mentally smacking herself, she switched on the bedside lamp. She'd apologize to her grandfather about his power bill in the morning, but she needed to get some sleep, and that wasn't going to happen if she was picturing strange, malevolent creatures surrounding her all night. Falling asleep at the wheel on your commute to class is generally frowned upon, as is showing up late or maimed during the first month or so.
She was going to have to admit that maybe her mother had been right, and the money she was saving by living with Charlie might not be worth the time she was losing driving to and from Port Angeles four days a week.
As she shuffled, bleary-eyed, into the kitchen the next morning, grabbing a cinnamon roll and pouring her coffee into one of the bigger mugs they had, she yawned and heard Charlie's chuckle. She gave him a playful glare as she sat down and started to eat.
Charlie finished his first cinnamon roll and picked up the second before he spoke.
"Much as I like having a zombie in the house, I might have gone behind your back," he said.
Eliza cocked an eyebrow. "And?"
"You know Sue's girl, Leah?" he asked. She nodded. Leah wasn't exactly a girl, but she supposed she would seem like one to her grandpa. "She's living in Port Angeles with her fiancée, and they have a spare room. She'd need a little money–"
"Yes!" Eliza cut him off so quickly that she surprised even herself. "Oh my God, whatever she wants."
Charlie chuckled. "Don't be too broken up about leaving me."
He took a bite and grimaced as he swallowed.
"Too much sugar for this early, huh?" Eliza asked.
"Probably, yeah. Anyway, she said something like three or four hundred for room and board, internet, all that."
"Three or four hundred a week," she looked up toward the ceiling as she tried to calculate food, gas, and maintenance costs in her head. She was bouncing her head at different angles, mumbling numbers and almost forgot Charlie was there for a moment. She looked at him with shining eyes. "Yeah, with my savings, that could be worth dropping the drive!"
"No. Three or four hundred a month. Jeez. She's a nice kid; she's not running some kinda scam, Lize." Charlie looked almost offended.
Eliza's jaw dropped. Literally dropped. She tried to speak, but a piece of roll was still in the back of her mouth, and she breathed it in. Her lungs burned as she coughed, and she could feel the blood rushing up to her face. Charlie reached her side almost instantly.
"Just breathe, kiddo. Don't panic." He gently rubbed her back. "You OK?"
Eliza nodded.
"Yes," she said, but it came out as more of a wheeze.
"If you're coughing, you're breathing."
She felt his hand leave her back and then heard the faucet running. He set a glass of water in front of her. She could see a crumb floating on top, but drank it anyway, and her voice came back.
"I breathed in my food." She laughed. "Sorry."
"You're not the one I worry about losing to pastry, kid." Charlie chuckled again and let out a breath as he sat back down on his side of the small kitchen table.
"Mom! I have to tell Mom about this; she'll die right there on the phone!" Eliza still couldn't believe her luck – room and board near her school for four hundred dollars! She'd always liked Leah enough, but now she'd sweep the top spot on the list of coolest adults in the continental United States. Not that Eliza kept a list. "Are you totally sure she only wants four hundred a month, Grandpa? Because that's crazy cheap."
"That's what she said. I told you, she's a good one like her father was. He'd give you the shirt off his back."
Eliza looked at her phone and saw the time.
"Sorry to cut you off, Grandpa, but I have to go." She jumped up and went around to give him a side hug. "Hopefully, this will be one of my last weekday drives!"
Doing a happy dance on her way out to her car, she grabbed her bag before closing the front door behind her and sliding into the driver's seat. She adjusted the braid of sweetgrass Bri's mom had left hanging from the rearview mirror and patted the dashboard.
"You're going to love this, old girl. It'll be like retirement. Just hang on a little longer."
Her room at Leah's was furnished and faced the road. Port Angeles wasn't exactly a booming hotspot, but there was enough noise and motion that Eliza felt a little more at home. Of course, Murphy inventing his stupid Law meant that on the first night in her new place, she missed the silence, along with its brief interruptions from wildlife and Charlie's snores. Outside, a car was idling, and she could hear the murmur of the television from the living room, but she couldn't place what Leah and Steph were watching. It finally hit her that, for the first time in her life, she wasn't living with family. She was basically out on her own.
Leah was practically family now, though, even though Charlie and Sue tried to hide how much time they spent together. Eliza figured they'd probably keep hiding it until the day they casually dropped a time and date to be at the courthouse with them, and Leah would officially be her aunt. She giggled to herself at the thought of calling her Auntie Leah at breakfast the next day.
It didn't take her long to get comfortable in her new routine, and without the long drive day in and day out, she even had time to hang out with people from school some evenings. She wouldn't sacrifice her trips back to Forks on the weekends whenever she could, though. Grandpa Charlie's house had always been one of her favorite places to be for as long as she could remember, and when she was there, it felt like all those summers and Christmases she and her mom had spent there were endless and existed outside of time. It didn't hurt that she could sneak a few Raniers out of the fridge and jet down to La Push to hang out with Bri and her friends while she was there, either.
La Push was an easier place to blend in than Forks, too. Nobody was ever anything but polite and friendly with her, but she wasn't ever sure if the constant gawking was because she was Chief Swan's granddaughter or because her presence practically doubled the town's biracial population. She wasn't Quileute or even Native, but at least in La Push, nobody referred to her with descriptors they should have left back in the 1930s when they didn't realize she could hear them. It was so comfortable, but she sometimes worried she was encroaching too much.
"Hey, where'd you go?" Eliza shook off the thought as she felt a kick to her foot and realized that Brianne was talking to her.
"Sorry, I think I'm just tired. I suck, I know." She straightened her back and adjusted her position on the log they were seated on.
"Seriously, though," Bri laughed. "Just don't be tired tonight. Kenzie said she found this new spot and there's no way my dad will just 'coincidentally' be walking past it this time."
They both rolled their eyes. It seemed like every time they found a new place to hang out and have a few drinks with friends, Mr. Lahote would have already planned a hike that way, or gotten lost going to the store he'd been shopping at since he was a toddler, or basically made up any excuse he could to find them and shut it down.
"There's nothing close, just an abandoned house. Not even trails or logging roads. She said there wasn't really deer tracks, even – nothing goes by there."
"Your dad will. I got twenty bucks on it with Roger." Eliza teased and stuck her tongue out.
"You didn't even know about it!"
"It's a standing bet, and he's got too much faith in you."
Bri blushed and threw a stone into the surf. "Whatever."
"Ooh, Bri and Roger sittin' in a tree," Eliza started to sing, with a teasing grin splitting her face.
"Get fucked, Swan."
"Maybe I will," she shrugged. She wasn't entirely sure where that came from.
"No! You bitch," Bri stopped and stared wide-eyed. "Who? And why have you been holding out on me? Fuck."
"I haven't been 'holding out on you,' jeez. Nobody. I'm just saying there's something in the water down here." Bri nodded, but Eliza couldn't help herself, and she grinned again. "Except Roger. I don't know why it skipped him."
Her friend pursed her lips and rolled her eyes before sighing and leaning back with her hands in the sand behind her.
"Nothing's happened with Roger. He's just so nice, you know? I don't even care that he's not all big and buff and shit; nobody's ever been so sweet to me. I like it."
Eliza smiled softly. She had no problem mercilessly teasing them, but she could see just how great Roger and Bri would be together if he finally pulled his head from his ass and went for it. The seed of a plan started to sprout in her head.
"OK, let's go back to your place, and I'll take a nap while you get all hussied up." Bri smacked her arm, but she kept going. "And we will make this happen tonight."
"Ugh, you're the worst, Lize. He's just nice to me like he is to everyone. He needs someone with their shit together and who like, I don't know, volunteers with puppies and babies and has a dad on Council or something."
Eliza stood up and held her hand out to help Bri up. "He's even nicer to you than to anyone else. And fuck those girls; he needs a Lahote to keep things interesting."
Bri scoffed but let Eliza yank her off the log, and they headed back to the car.
That night, they drove through Forks in Old Faithful, with Mallory, Roger, and his friend Aiden in the back and Bri and Kenzie up front. Eliza was thankful the old girl had a bench seat in the front with a middle belt, even if it was a little cramped, so she wouldn't have to strain to hear Kenzie's directions from the back. Her arms and shoulders were still burning from pushing the car out of the driveway with Bri after her dad fell asleep in front of the TV, so she didn't want to have to crane her neck any more than necessary.
"OK, so stay on the 101, and I think it's after Whitcomb Diimmel but before the bridge," Kenzie said.
"You think?" Eliza asked, trying not to sound irritated.
"I wasn't the one driving before, OK?" She held her hands up in surrender and almost smacked Brianne in the face. It really was a tight squeeze.
"I thought you said nobody knows about it!" Bri objected.
"I said nobody goes there. It was just me and Connor, anyway, but there was no one around."
"Wait, where are we going?" someone piped up from the back. It was the first time Eliza heard more than two words together from Aiden.
"Connor said these loaded weirdos used to live there, and then like twenty years ago, they just vanished and never came back. His dad told him they never sold the house or anything; they just left it. Can you imagine being so rich you can just, like, have a house somewhere you never use?" Eliza saw Kenzie turn toward the back seat. "Right?"
There was a strange noise, and Kenzie quickly turned back to face the windshield.
"Stop the car!" Aiden barked. Eliza looked into her rearview mirror and saw Roger elbow his friend, who furrowed his brow and cleared his throat. "Please."
She pulled off onto the shoulder, turned on her hazards, and twisted around to look in the back. Before she could speak, Aiden opened the door and jumped out, leaving Roger gaping at the empty spot beside him before following him outside. She heard the beginning of a "What the hell, man?" as he slammed her door.
"Well, that was weird," Kenzie said, and huffed, crossing her arms and flicking her head, again just barely missing Bri with the ends of her blonde ponytail.
"It's probably not a good idea if it's not actually abandoned," Mallory's soft voice floated from the back. "They could still have security, and, you know?" she trailed off.
"Trust me, it was fine," Kenzie replied.
"I mean, yeah, but–"
"But what, Mal? Don't even start that with me – we'd have been in as much trouble as anyone else if there was a problem going out there."
Eliza shot Bri a look, and she returned it and sighed.
"Besides, Eliza's grandpa's the Sherriff or whatever."
"Chief of Police," she corrected. "The vibe's off now, anyway. Let's just go back to the beach or the cliffs."
"Fine, whatever," Kenzie whined. "I gotta pee. Someone let me out."
Bri and Eliza both unbuckled and opened their doors. Aiden and Roger were a few yards away from the car, and she could hear them talking, but she couldn't make out the conversation. Roger looked more annoyed than she'd ever seen him. Kenzie and Bri both headed into the trees, and she ducked her head back into the car.
"I'm cool," Mallory said as she pulled out her phone.
Eliza nodded and leaned against the car, and a few moments later, Roger was leaning beside her.
"What's his deal?" she asked.
Roger scoffed. "Who knows, man? I swear he's not normally like this. I just wanted a good night with – without any drama."
"We'll still have a good night. Just not here." She chuckled and kicked a stone. "If we go to the cliffs, Bri might get really chilly, you know?"
"Maybe we can build a fire. Is there a burning ban?" he asked. Eliza sighed and elbowed him. "Ow! What was that for?"
"Dipshit. You can keep her warm."
Roger looked down. "I wish," he mumbled.
"So does she, Rog." Eliza knew she was overstepping just a little, but if it was this frustrating for her, she needed to put these two out of their misery soon.
"Nah, if she wanted it, she'd have gone for it. There's nothing she's ever been too scared to grab hold of." By the end of his sentence, his voice had become soft and reverent.
Eliza shook her head. "Or she's waiting on you, so she never has to wonder if you were just too nice to tell her no?"
She heard Kenzie and Bri coming back out of the trees, but they weren't talking. Kenzie went right to the car and got in the back seat without saying anything to anyone, including Mallory, who was still in the car playing on her phone. Eliza caught Brianne's eye and raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head toward the car; Bri just scowled and shook her head. Roger stood up straighter and guided her around the car, where he let her get in the front middle seat.
Aiden nodded at Eliza.
"Sorry for that. Before." His voice was softer again, and he looked a little embarrassed.
"No worries. I wasn't exactly stoked once I realized she was taking us to trespass on some creepy rich family's property." She rolled her eyes. "That's a really good way to end up as a lampshade or chained up in a dungeon."
Aiden chuckled. "Yeah, really, right?"
She decided that she liked his laugh. It was warm and low, and it felt almost like pulling it out of him was an achievement. It didn't hurt that his eyes crinkled at the edges in a really pleasant way. She shook the thoughts away; that could wait.
"Well, thanks for taking the lead, then. Keeping us all from getting skinned and stuffed, you know?" What was coming out of her mouth?
He laughed again, shaking his head and folding himself into the back seat. Eliza got back into the driver's seat and caught the strange look Bri was giving her, but she ignored it and started the engine.
"Back to La Push?" she asked nobody in particular.
"I want to go home," Kenzie said, her tone sharp and her lips pursed.
The ride to Kenzie's house was silent, save for a couple of reminders to turn here or there, and as soon as she'd stormed up to her front door and slammed it behind her, Eliza let out a sigh of relief.
"Let's just do the cliffs," Mallory offered as they headed back toward La Push. When she caught Eliza's eye in the mirror, she grinned. "The breeze will be nice up there."
Everyone agreed, and the car felt lighter as they got closer and closer to their destination. They had to go down Brianne's road, but as long as they got past her house, they'd be home free again. As they approached, it was looking like their night.
Then the motion-sensor light turned on, and a large figure emerged from the shadows and stood with its arms crossed in front of the door.
"Ah, fuck!" Bri hissed.
"Why's your dad shirtless?" Roger asked.
"Fucked if I know. He definitely saw us, though." She turned to Eliza. "Pull in like we were always coming back home. Like, look like this was the destination."
Eliza nodded and pulled into the driveway. When she unbuckled, she asked why he was so pressed about her being out.
"I don't know, man. He's just protective, I guess."
"Overprotective," Eliza said.
"We're taking too long; it's getting weird," Mallory reminded them.
They all got out and headed toward the door, trying to be as casual as possible.
"Brianne." Mr. Lahote sounded like he was barely holding himself together. "You can talk to your friends in the morning."
Bri's eyes went wide, and she scooted past her dad, giving an apologetic glance and waving to the group as she hurried inside.
"You all should get home. To your own homes," he said, looking each of them in the eye. They all nodded and scrambled back to the car. Just as Eliza opened her door, though, he called out to her. "Eliza Swan!"
"Yeah?"
"Don't ever take my girl there again."
She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off.
"And don't you ever go out there again, either. We don't need a repeat."
Eliza wondered how he knew where they'd been headed, but then remembered how he always seemed to sniff them out, no matter what they did or where they went. It was like he had a homing device planted in his daughter – or an Air Tag. That was probably it. Part of her wanted to tell him off, but something in the hard set of his jaw combined with the softer, almost scared, look in his eyes, gave her pause. He looked genuinely worried. She took a deep breath and nodded.
"Duly noted, Mr. Lahote." She smiled and gave a mock salute, and she saw him stifle a smile before setting his face back to serious mode and nodding once.
"Take them home and go straight to Charlie's. That's an order."
As she drove away, she noticed that Mr. Lahote didn't go back in right away, but continued to watch them until she rounded a corner, and the house went out of sight.
The next week at school was normal. She went to classes, spent time with her study group, and even treated Leah and Steph to a pizza night. Steph always worked a 16-hour shift at the hospital on Thursdays, and on this particular one, Leah had to stay late at her job unexpectedly, too. They both looked so beat as they sprawled on the couch, arguing about who should get up and start dinner, that Eliza jumped in and asked what toppings they liked. It was nice to just hang out with them, almost as an equal and not just as one of the many kids running around during the holidays.
She found out that they met when they grabbed each other's Starbucks orders by accident, which she thought was a ridiculously cute scenario fit for a romantic comedy. They both rolled their eyes at her when she shared that observation, but she didn't care. It was ridiculously cute. She told them about Parker in her Intro to Natural Resources class, who always wore shorts with hiking boots no matter the weather, and her friend Chloe back home, who wasn't really acting the same with her since she moved.
Just as she was getting ready for bed, her phone started to buzz. She smiled and picked up right away.
"Hey, Grandpa! How's it going?"
"The usual, you know. Saving the world one traffic violation at a time."
Eliza laughed. "What would the good people of Forks do without you?"
"I don't know many good people in Forks," he chuckled. "Anyway, I'm not just calling to chat."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Charlie coughed. "I was hoping you'd be making it down this weekend. On Saturday."
"I was hoping to. Unless one of my instructors decides to spring something huge on us tomorrow," she answered with a laugh.
"Well, I'd like," he cleared his throat again. "Sorry about that; spaghetti's fighting back."
"No worries."
"We're having a barbecue down at Sue's place on Saturday, and we want you there. Leah and Stephanie, too. Can you come?"
After the call, she raced back to the living room, where the couple was still relaxing. She was buzzing and practically bouncing on her feet.
"It's happening!" she squealed.
Leah shot her a quizzical look. "What's happening?"
"Grandpa Charlie just invited us for a barbecue on Saturday!"
"OK?"
"A barbecue at your mom's. He invited all of us. He really wants us to make it." Eliza could feel her voice becoming almost cartoonishly leading, but Leah still wasn't making the connection. She looked at Steph, who did and smiled.
"She thinks they're engaged, babe."
Leah shrugged. "Yeah, they probably are. Good for them."
Instead of staying the whole weekend like usual, Eliza decided to go down to La Push with Leah and Steph. If the reason for the barbecue was what she thought, she didn't want to get in the way or cause a distraction. She wasn't totally sure anymore since Charlie would probably want her mom there for a big announcement like that, but maybe they didn't want to wait until Christmas to share the news. If someone Facetimed her mom, though, that would be the ultimate confirmation.
When they got there, the party was in full swing. It was a warm, sunny day, and she could smell the meat as soon as she hopped out of the back seat. When they opened the front door, Sue told them all to just head straight out to the backyard, but she stopped Eliza on the way and handed her a bowl of chips to take outside, then thanked her for coming. One more tick in the 'Engagement Announcement' column, for sure, she thought.
Outside, some of the younger kids were running around. It looked like Jacob Black's sons were among them, and then she saw him over by the grill with Deputy Johnson. Mrs. Lahote was talking with Mrs. Johnson, but she couldn't see Bri or Mr. Lahote anywhere. She found the table with all the snacks and salads and set the bowl down when she noticed a small, bare foot sticking out from underneath. That had to be Seth's daughter; she was always hiding somewhere with a book. Eliza stuck her hand under the table and wiggled a hello. The giggle she heard back was totally Susannah's.
Uncle Billy called her over to his place on the porch, and he tucked his beer behind his back wheel as she approached and gave him a hug.
"You're not going to corrupt me if I see you drinking a beer, you know?"
He laughed. "It's 'cause it's Coors Light. I'm just hiding my shame."
"How've you been? I haven't seen you around much!" She really did miss fishing with Charlie and Billy, but she knew it was mostly her own fault that she hadn't been out with them this year.
"You know, keeping quiet. Chillaxing," he said and slid his hand out in front of him.
Eliza laughed and shook her head. He was a total dork but in a fun way.
"Is Bri here?" she asked.
"She will be. Paul had her on hard labor this morning; she's been hanging out with a bad crowd." Eliza cringed, and Billy laughed again. "They're picking some things up from the store; they left twenty minutes ago."
"You're awful, you know that?"
"Never claimed to be otherwise, my girl."
He clasped her hand, and she gave him another hug before setting off to find her grandfather. She found him inside, napping in the recliner, so she wandered back into the kitchen to see if anyone needed help.
"I'm just finishing up in here, and then I have to wake the beast," Sue told her with a laugh. "He was so excited to have everyone down that he tuckered himself out. He wasn't feeling too great this morning, either—I told him to go easier on the pizza last night, but you know men. They never listen. You go have some fun outside, and we'll be out soon."
Back outside, Eliza poured a cup of Pepsi and grabbed a handful of chips before settling down in an empty chair. She was soaking up the warmth of the sun and letting the sounds of the barbecue and the smells lull her into an almost meditative state, where she could just exist and think about nothing much at all.
Then, the sounds changed. She opened her eyes and saw Jacob running impossibly fast toward the house; she looked around and caught Seth running from another direction. Someone yelled, and then she saw what was happening.
Her world spun, slowed down, and sped up all at once as she watched her grandfather standing in front of the open sliding glass door with a pained grimace on his face and a hand going to his chest.
He fell to the ground, and everything descended into chaos.
